Are you charging what you could for your Probate matters? Have you reviewed your costs generally? Most of us are working hard, and doing a great job for our clients, the changes we need to make are to our business. The way that you estimate and charge your legal fees is one of those areas that you should be reviewing on a regular basis.
This on demand training costs $100 per person, it includes recorded video and also a series of documents to get you started.
What do the papers cover?
The documents that you will receive include -
26 page booklet - covering the new legislation, what is covered by the fixed costs and why, the reasons for the timing issue (i.e. can you issue an invoice prior to receiving Probate), and options for quickly recording fixed time and excluded time
Excel spreadsheet titled “What is covered” - setting out the legislation and Costs Guide rules, giving them identifying colours and letters, and then running through the steps in an average matter and indicating which steps fall under which categories of cost
Slides from the Webinar - covering the topics set out below
A precedent initial letter to Executor - to repeat the advice from the initial consultation and also to show your percentage split on the work at these initial stages
What does the video recording cover?
During the Webinar we looked at -
Is everything that you do up to the point of obtaining Probate covered by fixed costs?
What standard, Probate work can you charge at your normal hourly rate?
What are we advising on in a standard, initial appointment, and how much of that is covered by fixed costs?
How are you recording your time so that you can issue a bill for the work that is not fixed, and so that you have better reporting on the time taken to complete a Probate matter?
What were the changes in 2025 to the Regulations, how do they impact you?
In keeping with previous CPDs, you will get a $50 discount code if before purchasing you email me a requisition from the Supreme Court in relation to an Estate matter and provide enough information for the requisition to make sense. Email it to janis@janisconsults.com and then I will send you the discount code and also probably ask a few clarifying questions.
You can find out more about the event by going into the Facebook Group, or you can register for the event by clicking on the button above.
free facebook group - NSW Estate Lawyers
Did you know about the free Facebook Group? This is a group for NSW Estate Lawyers to discuss things that are particular to practising Estate law in this State. Here are some examples of things we might discuss -
(1) Does anyone have a list of local lawyers for XYZ suburb so I can send out a letter enquiring if they hold a Will?
(2) My client’s situation is slightly different to the standard issue Affidavit, do you handwrite in an amending sentence, or do something else?
Of course more recently there is a lot of discussion about pragmatic issues with the new online system. We might also share the occasional post that only other lawyers who practice in this area will appreciate. The idea is to help and support each other, and share information that is helpful.
If you would like to join you can just search for “NSW Estate Lawyers” in groups on Facebook, please make sure that you answer the questions.
